Merlin has introduced Condor, a product family intended to add its Merlin Pilot autonomy system to large, multi-crew commercial and military aircraft [1] [2]. The company says the system is designed to work beside human pilots by managing aircraft systems, monitoring the environment and handling routine communications from takeoff to touchdown [2].
Matt George, Merlin’s founder and chief executive, said Condor is the company’s first named product family built on the Merlin Pilot platform [1]. Merlin plans to focus first on commercial cargo aircraft, including the passenger-to-freighter conversion market [2]. Aviation International News also described the program as targeting freighter conversions [3].
The commercial plan remains developmental. Merlin said it is collaborating with World Star Aviation, a freighter lessor, and later signed a non-binding memorandum of understanding with Israel Aerospace Industries for market exploration, engineering collaboration, regulatory preparation and initial platform selection [2] [4]. Merlin said additional engineering, certification and regulatory work remains before commercial deployment [4].
Condor’s military connection is Merlin Pilot’s C-130J program with U.S. Special Operations Command. Merlin says that work is advancing under a $105 million indefinite-delivery, indefinite-quantity contract and that the program completed its Preliminary Design Review in March 2026 and Critical Design Review in June [2] [5]. The company describes the C-130J effort as an airworthiness program, with system integration, ground testing and flight demonstrations still to follow [5].
Merlin identifies 737, C-130J, A320 and KC-135 aircraft as current focus areas or future fleet candidates for Condor [6]. The company has not announced that Condor is commercially certified or operationally deployed. Its current public materials characterize the product as an effort to extend crew capability in large aircraft while the related military and civil certification work proceeds [4] [6].
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References
[1] LinkedIn: George Matt - Today we’re introducing Condor
[2] Merlin: Merlin Unveils Plans for AI-Powered Autonomy for Commercial Cargo Aircraft
[3] AIN: Merlin Introduces Condor Autonomy Platform for Large Freighters
[4] Merlin: Working with Israel Aerospace Industries to Advance Condor
[5] Merlin: Merlin Completes C-130J Preliminary Design Review
[6] Merlin: Condor